Brussels Airlines Brings Magritte To The Surrealist Skies

Today saw the unveiling of Brussels Airlines second special livery from a Belgian artistic icon. This time it was René Magritte whose likeness was brought to life on an A320 for the Belgian carrier. Following in the footsteps of Rackham, the Tintin aircraft that the Belgian airline unveiled last year, “Magritte” will grace the skies for an impressive six years.

Unveiled in a hangar in the presence of Minister of Mobility Jacqueline Galant, Brussels Airlines Chairman Viscount Etienne Davignon, Brussels Airlines CEO Bernard Gustin and President of the Fondation Magritte Charly Herscovici, the aircraft features two of Magritte’s paintings, La Clairvoyance (1936) and Le Retour (1940).

Just like Rackham, this aircraft’s cabin interior has undergone a makeover as well and features a surrealist flock of cloud-filled birds, taken from Le Retour (1940) and also the work La Belle-Société (1965-66), which features the famous man in the bowler hat.

It is key to point out, this isn’t just a decal, it’s actually painted, and three young Belgian designers, working in the Brussels Airlines marketing team brought the aircraft to life. The painting of the aircraft was realized by airbrush artist Andre Eisele, who previously had also worked on Rackham. He had the challenging task to translate the Magritte design onto an aircraft fuselage. The entire paint job took place in the painting facilities of Eirtech in Ostrava, Czech Republic.

The aircraft features its own hashtag and microsite, encouraging aircraft spotters to promote the special one off livery throughout social media.